THE BUMBLE BEE

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26120, 24 May 1950, Page 2

THE BUMBLE BEE

STUDY BY AMERICAN SCIENTIST DOMINION’S RED CLOVER PRODUCTION “The Press” Special Service AUCKLAND, May 23. The life history, distribution and activity of the bumble bee on red clover nave been studied with the Cawthron Institute, Nelson, by Dr. B. Elwood Montgomery, associate professor of entomology at Purdue University, Indiana, during the last eight months. He is in New Zealand under a Fulbright grant. Before going on a tour of Northland pasture lands. Professor Montgomery said that the production of clover seed in certain restricted areas in New Zealand was about the highest in the world. Unfortunately these were not areas of the highest acreage, being near hills. He instanced areas near Dunedin. and Fairlie and in Marlborough and Nelson. In flatter country such as Canterbury, yields were not high because the long-tongued species of bumble bee, which fertilised the clover, had to live close tp the hills and was not found in large numbers on the plains. Honey bees were used for fertilising clover in the United States, but it was questionable whether they would do well in New Zealand, because honey bees would not work red clover if there were any other flowers available. It seemed that some of the plains species of bumble bee should be introduced from America to fill the gap in the flatter areas, and this would be one of the recommendations he would make in the report which he was compiling, said Professor Montgomery. Acarine, a ‘parasite disease of the honey bee,/ was not present in the United States or Canada, and there would be no danger in introducing bees from those countries. Because New Zealand had a milder climate than North America, where bumble bees hibernated; New Zealand bumble bees were more active in winter. He had been impressed to find that in the Nelson district they maintained their nests during the winter. He thought that on his Northland trip he might find that bumble bees were able to breed throughout the year. Professor Montgomery said he had also studied the history of the spread of the bumble bee in New Zealand. Clover seed production was largely in the South Island, but his field work had taken him through both islands from New Plymouth to Invercargill. He had found the quality of the research work of the entomology division of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research at the Cawthron Institute to be equal to that of similar institutions elsewhere. New Zealand entomologists were in touch with research all over the world and were carrying their share of it. He was impressed with the amount of work they had done on destructive insects, and was interested to see that the leaf beetle, which attacked St. John’s wort, had already been introduced in several areas. He was also impressed with the type of New Zealand farming, and thought that the United States could 'draw many lessons frpm what New Zealand got out of its’ pastures. He had gathered seeds of clovers and various grasses to see if they would be suitable in North American climates. Professor Montgomery will leave New Zealand on May 31.